Don't Leave!
by puuurpleprincess95
Summary: When Mark decides that it is too difficult to stay in Seattle and leave Lexie alone, he decides to go back to New York.  Will Lexie confess that she's still in love with him and stop him or will her words send him away?


So this is about a week after Shock to the System. This was originally a short little one shot, but once I started I couldn't stop, so it became an extremely long one shot.

I loved the episode until she told him to leave her alone, but I am hoping that this is just the last big argument before they get back together because nearly all of the Grey's couples seem to follow that pattern, so I still have hope. Is it starting to frustrate anyone else that they build up our hopes about these two only to crush them?

Anyways, I don't own anything.

….

Mark Sloan took a deep breath as he walked out of the chief's office. It was official. He was going back to New York. He didn't want to leave, he wanted to stay and fight to get Lexie back, but if him leaving her alone was what it took for her to be happy then he'd do it. And he had tried to stay, he had tried so hard, but every time he saw her he just wanted to tell her what he had told Callie, but he was scared. He was scared of her rejecting him again, of her pushing him away, or all of the wrong words coming out of his mouth.

So he was going back. He'd miss everyone, but he couldn't stand to be around Lexie and not being able to make her happy.

So far he had talked to Callie about it, but no one else knew. He wasn't going to tell everyone, he had already instructed Callie to explain to everyone, he was about to go tell Derek. He knew it was probably stupid, but Lexie made him happier than everything he had ever known, and her wanting him to leave her alone, to not talk to him, think that he was treating her like a basket case had felt like she had ripped his heart out of his chest and tore it to shreds. The heart that she had put together, had taught how to love, the heart that belonged to her.

"What were you talking to Richard about?" Derek asked as he began to walk beside him.

"Transferring my cases to Dawkins." Mark said.

"Why? He's like the Shadow Shepherd of Plastics." Derek said looking at him suspiciously as they got into the elevator.

"Because tonight I'm going back to New York." Mark said as the doors began to close.

"What? You mean just to visit Mom?" Derek asked not wanting it to sink in.

"No, to live."

"What? No, you can't!" Derek said as he stopped the elevator.

"I already made my decision. I'm flying out of here in three hours; I just have to finish things up here. The guy who bought my practice is retiring and offered to sell it back. I have a meeting with him tomorrow."

"Mark, why are you doing this?"

"Why the hell do you think Derek?" Mark asked angrily as he punched the elevator wall.

"You can't just run away Mark. You have to stay and fight." Derek said looking at him.

"Fight for what? Lexie told me to leave her alone! And I can't be here, around her, if she doesn't even want to talk to me." Mark said tears forming in his eyes.

"Are you sure you want to do this? Once you leave it will be hard to come back. You can't just leave everything behind!" Derek said as he began to raise his voice.

"I don't have a choice. I'm sorry Derek." Mark said as he started the elevator back up. When it reached the floor he bolted as fast as he could.

….

Lexie Grey sat in cafeteria with Meredith, Christina, and Jackson. They had all agreed that it was getting kind of pathetic for them to continue eating on gurneys in the hallway so now they were sitting the cafeteria.

They were talking about some surgery, but she wasn't paying attention. She was watching Mark. She had done that a lot in the past week.

After she told him he was treating her like a basket case and to leave her alone, she went to her car as fast as she possibly could and then just drove. She remembered ending up at Derek's trailer in the woods. She was shivering, she didn't know why, it was only September, but she was shivering and shaking and the tears running down her face felt ice cold. She remembered stumbling to the trailer and shoving her way through the mess. She climbed onto the mattress and made a cocoon of blankets to surround herself. She lay awake all night listening the rain beat on the roof and wondering what had happened to her. She had been happy before, rarely ever cried, but now, since she and Mark had broken up she cried nearly every day.

She hadn't meant for him to leave her alone, but things between them had been so complicated and now the shooting had been added on top of it and it was just too much. All of her feelings were mixed together and she just couldn't sort through all of them at once and it just became too much for her to handle.

She continued to watch Mark. He was currently arguing with Derek. She was to far away to hear what he was saying, but she could see him constantly say her name.

After several minutes of this Mark and Derek hugged and shook hands before Mark walked off.

Derek walked over to them with a defeated look on his face. He pulled up a chair beside Meredith, kissed her on the cheek, and then sat down with an exasperated sigh.

"What's wrong with you?" Christina asked without looking up.

"Today's a bad day. I lost a patient and my best friend all in one day." Derek said without thinking.

"What are you talking about?' Meredith asked as Lexie sat in shock.

"My shunt went south and I had to-"

"Not that! Mark!" Meredith hissed glancing up at Lexie.

"He's going back to New York."

"What? When?" Lexie yelped. This was her fault. She had been getting better and refused to accept the help that Mark was trying to give her. She had told him to leave her alone and now she was going to lose him.

"In about two hours. He just left for the airport." Derek said.

"Come with me." Lexie said standing up and glaring at him.

"Lexie…." Derek said softly.

"God damn it Derek! Get the hell up and come with me right now!" Lexie yelled. She hated being mean to Derek, but desperate times called for desperate measures. She knew she was drawing stares, but what else was new?

Derek got up and followed her.

"How could you let him leave? Are you insane?" Lexie said angrily as soon as they were alone.

"You told him to leave you alone! What was he supposed to do?"

"And he believed me? I'm in love with him! I know I said it, but I didn't want him to leave! I just couldn't figure things out and he was acting like I was still crazy."

"Lexie, he was scared for you. He didn't want you to get hurt again. He knew you were okay if you said you were, but he was scared of the slightest chance that you weren't."

"I messed everything up." Lexie said as tears began to form in her eyes.

"Then fix it." Derek said gently rubbing her arm as he silently handed her a print out of Mark's flight information that he had practically begged the chief to give him before smiling softly and walking away.

Lexie practically ran to the locker room and changed as fast as she possibly could. She had to stop Mark at the airport. As she was sticking her scrubs back in her locker she couldn't help wonder when her love life had become like a romantic comedy cliché. She never thought she'd be racing to catch the love of her life before he got on and airplane and left forever.

She ran out of the locker room and didn't realize that someone was walking down the hallway.

"Sorry!" She said. When she stepped back she realized that she had run into Callie.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?" Callie asked.

"The airport." Lexie said as she stuck the plane information in her purse.

"You're going after Mark?" Callie asked with a slight attitude. Her best friend had become a shell of himself after Lexie had broken up with him and after she had told him to leave her alone, he had become a shell of that shell.

"Of course I am."

"You hurt him. You have no idea how much you hurt him. Do you know what he was planning on when doing before you shot him down?"

"What?" Lexie asked.

"He was planning on proposing."

"WHAT?" Lexie asked. She couldn't help thinking about how much she had screwed up. "I… I didn't know. I told him he was treating me like a basket case. I thought he thought I was crazy. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it!" Lexie said beginning to sob as she fell to the ground. She felt about a million times worse than she had in that bathroom after she thought Mark was moving on.

"Little Grey, look at me." Callie said watching the younger woman sob.

"What?" Lexie asked looking up at her with tears brimming in her eyes.

"Get up." Callie said helping her up. "Do you love Mark?" Callie said looking at her sternly.

"Of course I do." Lexie said sniffling.

"Then what are you waiting for?" Callie asked looking at her.

"What was he going to say?" Lexie asked glancing up at Callie. She hated herself right now, she hated what she had become, how she had broken the man that she had put back together. There was no way he could have known she was getting better and he was scared for her. Why did she have to decide that it was because he thought she was a basket case?

"Ask him." Callie said before smiling and walking off.

Lexie ran to the exit and then out to her car. She still had about an hour and a half, she could catch him if she hurried.

….

Mark Sloan sat waiting for his flight to begin boarding. He wished that Lexie would suddenly appear from the crowd of people, but she had made it clear that she didn't want to see him. Maybe she never had, or maybe she really just wanted him to leave her alone.

He had a feeling that New York wouldn't be what he remembered. When he lived there he was still a manwhore and New York had tons of attractive women. Now, he didn't care about the women because the one woman he cared about more than anything wanted him to leave her alone and he only wanted her.

Mark could still remember how things had been before Lexie. He had never met a woman he had loved, he had been able to move on, and he never thought about a woman night and day and needed her to be happy for him to even have a shot at being happy.

He was interrupted from his thoughts when a voice came over the intercom. "Flight 2837 to New York is now boarding, flight 2837 to New York is now boarding."

Mark got up and joined the line. It felt like just yesterday that Lexie was taking her clothes off in his hotel room and saying "Teach Me", when in reality it had been nearly two years ago. He couldn't help wondering how they had gotten from there, being so happy and things being so simple and fun, to here, him about to go back to New York and Lexie wanting him to leave her alone.

In just half an hour he'd be on that plane and it would be flying back to New York.

…

Lexie Grey ran to Mark's terminal. Security had taken her an hour. After the shooting, Seattle airports and hospitals had all been required to tighten up security. Her not having a ticket didn't really help things either.

When she finally got there a few people were still boarding, she was desperate and went to the desk.

"Ma'am you have to go to the end of the line." The man at the desk said as he scanned another ticket.

"Please, I have to see someone on that plane." Lexie said desperately.

"Do you have a ticket?" He asked slightly annoyed.

"No, please just let me go back there." She said.

"I'm sorry, it's procedure. No ticket, no entrance."

Lexie watched as the last few people boarded. She made a run for the doors. When she got there, the two flight attendants standing at the door grabbed her.

"Security!" One of them yelled.

"Please, you have to let me go back there!" She yelled fighting their grips.

Seconds later two strong looking security guards came around the corner and grabbed her.

"Please! You have to let me through! Let me go!" Lexie yelled trying to break away. She then began to scream at the top of her lungs. "Mark! Mark, I didn't mean it! Don't leave! I'm in love with you!" Lexie yelled as she tried to pull away. Her face was becoming a mess of tears and she felt like she was about to lose everything.

….

Mark Sloan was about to step onto the plane when he heard it.

"Mark! Mark, I didn't mean it! Don't leave! I'm in love with you!" He could hear Lexie yell.

Mark turned and ran back the way he had just come.

"Marcus Dylan Sloan! Don't you dare get on that plane!" Lexie continued to yell.

Mark ran through the doorway and saw Lexie, he face bright red, tears streaming down her face, with a look of pure terror on her face as she was held back by two security guards.

"Mark." Lexie said softly as a smile that had been absent from her face for a very long time appeared.

Mark glared at the security guards and they gave him a warning glance before letting Lexie go.

"Lex, this is what you wanted." Mark said as she walked towards him.

"It isn't! I don't want this! You can't leave!" Lexie said as tears continued to stream down her face.

"You said to leave you alone, that I was treating you like a basket case. I can't be around you and leave you alone." Mark said looking at her.

"I… I don't want you to leave me alone. I was just frustrated and I thought that you thought I was crazy and that was why you were chaining me to your service, but I was wrong. I need you to be happy. I'm getting better, I'm moving on from the shooting, but I'm not happy."

"I didn't know what else to do." Mark admitted. "I was scared because what we all went through, what you went through, that was scary and I didn't know how to help you. I didn't understand, I didn't have a gun held to my head; I didn't go through what you did. So I did what I knew how to do. I kept you close because even though you say you're better, you aren't yourself right now. And I know who you are, you know I do. And if you're going through your worst right now, hell even if you're not, I want to go through whatever this is with you. I want to make you happy again, that's all I ever wanted to do. That's all I want to do for the rest of my life. And I know that I can make you happy if you let me."

"Mark… I…" Lexie said looking up at him.

"I know that we have a lot to work through and we can't just go back to how we were. But I know that if we try and you let me in, we can get there." Mark said as he gently brushed a stray hair out of her face.

Lexie smiled and had the sudden urge to hug Mark. She felt his arms enclose her body and for the first time in a long time she felt safe.

"I'm still in love with you too." Lexie softly whispered into his ear.

After a minute or two of just holding each other they pulled away.

"No more skipping steps." Mark said as he held her hand in his and looked into her eyes. "It wasn't fair of me to you for me to expect you to drop everything and help me with Sloan and the baby. It wasn't fair of me to get mad at you about sleeping with Karev. We both did a lot of stupid things and probably the most stupid of all was not just coming clean and admitting that we were still in love with each other. But now we can do it all over, do it all right. We can still remember the good things about the first time around, but this time we won't skip steps. We'll take things slow this time."

Lexie let out a nervous giggle and an approving nod then spoke, "No more hovering." She said sternly.

"Lex, how about if I leave you on my service and let you operate and help me diagnose patients and treat them, instead of just watching and standing there? I just want to keep you close."

Lexie wrapped her arms around his neck and appeared to be deep in thought before speaking, "Deal." She leaned up and they kissed for the first time in six months.

After realizing that they were drawing stares they pulled away and laughed.

"Let's go home." Mark said smiling at her and wrapping his arm around her waist.

They left the airport together. Mark's bags were on the way to New York and he would have to cancel all of his previously made plans, but neither of them cared. They had each other again.

They knew that it would be a long road ahead of them, one full of twists and turns, and bumps and pot holes.

But they knew that together they would make it to the end of that road, to their future together waiting for them.


End file.
